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An aspiring actress has been dubbed the ‘unluckiest woman in the world’ after she was attacked by a homeless man who broke her jaw, diagnosed with a brain tumor and hit by a car on her way to radiation therapy.
Alli McLaren, 30, describes the ‘series of unfortunate events’ that left her with a traumatic brain injury and two broken feet in a now viral TikTok video.
‘I’m the friend that lives that “Can’t catch a break lifestyle,”‘ McLaren, a Los Angeles resident originally from Australia, tells viewers in a clip that has garnered 1.6million views.
She explains in the video that her life started to take a turn for the worse in October 2021, when a homeless man assaulted her in the City of Angels.
McLaren was a social butterfly at the time, with many friends who enjoyed going out in the city and having fun. But when she walked back from Starbucks on her last day of what she described as a ‘toxic job,’ the TikTok star was punched in the head by a homeless man.
Alli McLaren, 30, described in a recent TikTok the ‘series of unfortunate events’ that left her with a traumatic brain injury, cancer and two broken feet
‘He walked across the road, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye,’ she told Media Drum. ‘He punched through my phone, which broke from the impact and I fell over. It all happened in about two seconds.’
She said she sought medical attention at an urgent care facility in West Hollywood, where doctors told her she had a concussion but ‘looked fine’ and dismissed her concerns.
But she started to feel jaw pain a month later, and a dentist confirmed her jaw was fractured from the attack.
McLaren said in a video posted in June that the dentist originally told her it would heal on its own. But three months later, she said, she was in ‘more pain than ever and can’t eat solid food.’
At that point, she said, she sought another opinion from a different dentist who took another X-ray which showed the fracture was even worse than it was before.
After attempts to wire her jaw back in place failed, the New York Post reports, she was forced to wait another two months before getting oral surgery to fix the fracture.
McLaren explained in the now-viral TikTok: ‘I had to get jaw surgery to fix it, and my immune system was super weak and I ended up getting an infection and pneumonia.’
During that bout with pneumonia, the Post reports, she fell and hit her head, causing a Traumatic Brain Injury which spurred back-to-back seizures.
Her life started to take a turn for the worse in October 2021, when a homeless man assaulted her in the City of Angels
The homeless man punched her in the head, leaving her with a fractured jaw. She had to get oral surgery to fix her jaw, after which she got pneumonia and fell on her head, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury
McLaren had to get several surgeries for the traumatic brain injury, and later brain cancer
She received treatment for the seizures, but soon she started to experience more seizures, vomiting and mood changes — having unexplainable anger and confusion.
Ultimately, the doctors discovered she had a noncancerous giant cell tumor growing in her brain.
From there, her TikTok shows, she was in and out of the hospital. One video from January showed she was spending $43,000 a month on medical bills and rent.
And when she went to get radiation treatment at a local hospital just last month, she was run over by a driver who failed to brake at a stop sign.
The accident left her with two broken feet.
McLaren is pictured at one of the many hospitals she has been admitted to over the past few years after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor
When going to one of the hospitals to receive radiation treatment last month, she was hit by a driver who ran a stop sign. The accident left her with two broken feet
McLaren describes on TikTok how difficult treatment has been for her physically and emotionally
Online, some TikTok users praised the homeless man for landing the blow that ultimately led to the discovery of the tumor.
One commentator wrote: ‘Okay, but the homeless guy kinda saved your life??’ The comment received over 43,000 likes.
But McLaren says she doesn’t agree.
‘Although it would be a great story for the homeless man, the only thing he’s done is cause me a lot of stress and medical bills,’ she said, explaining: ‘The timing of everything doesn’t work for him to have helped me discover the tumor, as it wasn’t there when I was originally hit.’
In fact, she suggested, the homeless man may have even caused all of her problems over the last few years.
‘Although the cause for this type of tumor is unknown, a possible explanation I’ve been given is that it may be the result of head trauma, so he may have even caused it.’
Despite it all, McLaren manages to remain positive, even joking in a recent TikTok
She said she believes all of these trials have made her stronger, claiming everything happens for a reason
Making matters worse, her medical struggle have been compounded by new mental and emotional health issues.
‘I have really struggled to be honest,’ she said. ‘I’ve had both depression and anxiety.
‘I also get really uncomfortable walking near people on the street because I don’t trust anyone,’ McLaren revealed, before saying she ‘got demoted… because I had to work from home so much and I ended up leaving after that, so financially it’s been a strain.’
And she said, ‘I have nowhere near as many friends as I used to.
‘I stopped responding to messages and stopped showing up at places,’ she explained. ‘A lot of the time I’m super tired and just have no energy.
‘I used to be super social and now I just have a hard time leaving my house.’
At times, McLaren said, she will randomly become angry, which has distanced her from many of her friends.
She said now only has her ‘tolerant’ friends and family members who aren’t easily offended by her behavior.
McLaren is an aspiring actress living in Los Angeles who is originally from Australia
But through it all, McLaren remains positive, even joking recently on TikTok that nothing bad has happened to her since she was hit by a car last month.
‘I think I stay strong by knowing it can’t be like this forever and also knowing that one day I’m going to wake up and I won’t be in pain anymore,’ she said.
‘I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I am hoping to maybe one day write a book about it and keep using my platform to talk about chaotic life.’
McLaren added that she believes all of these trials have made her stronger.
‘We don’t choose our lives and what happens to us, but we do choose how to take what happens to us and make it into something beautiful.’
